Attack of the Killer Tomatoes?

The FDA has issued a health warning for raw tomatoes.

As a precautionary measure, Shultzy's has stopped serving raw tomatoes and fresh salsa until the current tomato health concerns are resolved. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Thanks to Kelsey for her clever headline.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery...

I was watching a Cubs game last week at Shultzy's when something in the background caught my eye.

In the background, there was an advertisement that said Bubba Burger, Official Burger of the Chicago Cubs.

That struck me as pretty funny since Shultzy's has been making Bubba Burgers for years. Long ago, we started taking our Ragin' Cajun sausage and serving it as a patty instead of a link. Since I'd lived in Memphis, I thought it would be good to serve it on a roll with cole slaw, somewhat akin to a Memphis-style BBQ pork sandwich. And for some reason, we decided to name it after one of my father's nicknames "Dr. Bubba", and the Bubba Burger was born.

The Bubba Burger turned out to be popular and had a long run on the Shultzy's menu, but ultimately, people preferred their Cajun sausage burger in what is now known as the Chatalas Burger (with grilled onions and melted cheddar cheese). The Chatalas burger is a top-seller, but even now the Cajun patties themselves are known to our prep and grill staff as "Bubbas".

I'm pretty confident that we've got the Cubs version of the Bubba Burger beat hands down; after all, theirs isn't even a sausage burger. And, since the Ragin' Cajun is itself an homage, I guess one tribute deserves another.

Logo of the University of Lousiana-Lafayette

The UEFA final was great!

Lunch was hopping at Shultzy's today with the finals of the UEFA Champions League (Manchester United vs. Chelsea) on TV. One side of the restaurant was for watching and listening to the game, while the other had the TVs on mute for the more conversationally oriented diners. The game was fantastic (going to overtime, penalty kicks, and then extra penalty kicks) and the fans were riveted by the action.

To help set the mood, we featured Bangers and Mash today, the British pub classic with a mild pork sausage over buttermilk mashed potatoes. And you could wash it down with a Boddington's Pub Ale (from the UK) or a Budweiser (the official beer of Manchester United).

I don't know whether we'll still have Bangers and Mash tomorrow, but if you're an Anglophile, you might want to check it out.

New Menu Item: Spicy Italian Burger

This one is an old favorite of mine from the early days of Shultzy's.

The Novie Wedge (Sweet Italian Sausage Burger with melted provolone cheese, marinara sauce, grilled onions & peppers, and a sprinkling of parmesan cheese on a crusty italian roll) has been a staple on the Shultzy's menu since the very beginning. I like it because it's like a sausage pizza, but with much better sausage than any pizza place I've been to.

If there's one thing missing from the Novie Wedge, it's a touch of heat. I'm a pepperhead, and I like a little spiciness in my sausage. that's where the Spicy Italian Burger comes in. It's a Novie Wedge, but instead of the mild Sweet Italian Sausage Burger, it has a spicy Hot Italian Sausage Burger. In the old days, you could get one made custom for you if the grill wasn't too busy (the cook would "de-link" a Hot Italian into a patty). But now, for a limited time, it's on the menu for you to enjoy any time.



If you like the Hot Italian, give the Spicy Italian Burger a try. And if you really want to be an insider, you can call it a "Vesuvius" (the staff's nickname for it) or a "Muzzino's Masterpiece" (how it shows up on the POS system -- named after Andy Muzzino, our in-house Sausage maker).

Everything I Needed to Know, I Learned in Shultzy's

Maybe that's a slight exaggeration, but it's interesting what you do learn at Shultzy's.

I was talking with Doug, our bar manager, about beers this morning.



We were tasting the Weltenburger which we agreed was surprisingly effervescent -- it will be especially tasty if the weather gets as warm as they're predicting for the rest of this week.

Doug then admitted that he's become a big fan of dark lagers (he's been enjoying the Roslyn and Dinkel Acker Dark Lagers we've had on tap lately). Doug was a lager guy before he came to Shultzy's, but after coming here and tasting a variety of dark lagers, he found a new favorite. When I asked him why, he said that the maltiness of the dark lagers appeals to him. And what does he like to eat with his favorite beer? A Tim's Steak (Thin sliced Rib Eye Steak smothered in Melted Cheddar Cheese with Hickory Smoked Bacon, Grilled Onions and BBQ Sauce on an Amoroso Roll).

If you're like me, you tend to order your favorites automatically when you sit down at Shultzy's, but Doug has encouraged me to be more adventurous and try some new combinations -- maybe they'll become my new favorites.

And you thought our menu was a little crazy...

Your Shultzy's correspondent is on the road again. This time, I headed down to Los Angeles and had the opportunity to eat at Pink's.



Pink's is an L.A. institution since 1939 that serves up a variety of hotdogs and burgers to the 15-20 million non-vegans left in Southern California. As you can see, it's a place with modest decor and an even more modest dining area (who needs a roof over your head when it never rains).

From their giant menu, I chose a Millenium dog (not shown in their online menu) that was a jalapeño-flavored footlong hotdog topped with chili, cheese, lettuce, tomato, onions and guacamole and my wife opted for the basic stretch chili dog.



They were both pretty tasty. And very filling. Even 8 hours later, neither of us were very hungry.

In the interest of culinary adventure, I wish I had tried their Pastrami Burrito (Big flour tortilla wrapped around 2 hot dogs, Grilled Pastrami, Swiss cheese, chili & onions) or their Bacon Burrito Dog (Big flour tortilla wrapped around 2 hot dogs, 2 slices of cheese, 3 slices of bacon, chili & onions), but I had other plans that day and couldn't resist succumbing to a food-induced coma.

Overall, it was pretty tasty and worth a visit if you're in LA, but sadly there's no beer served. I'm ready to get back to Seattle for a Junkyard Dog and a Weltenburger Barrock Hell (if the keg holds out 'til I get back).

Breakfast to Go started this morning

With the introduction of our new Breakfast Burritos, Shultzy's now serves Hot Breakfast to Go.

You can choose between three varieties, Spicy Chorizo, Bacon, or Vegetarian, all with egg, cheddar cheese, and home-fried potatoes rolled up to go in a warm tortilla. I had one this morning (spicy chorizo) and it's a warm, tasty and filling way to start the day. For the next few days (during the 5 Days of Cinco de Mayo), we'll also be offering them during non-breakfast hours until we run out of them each day.

And if you like coffee with your burrito, we have a great deal for you: a cup of Caffe Vita coffee and the breakfast burrito of your choice for only $4.71! So, you can be out the door with a delicious hot breakfast in under 5 minutes for just $5 (the after-tax price).

5 Days of Cinco de Mayo

OK, the obvious question: where did we come up with this idea?

This year, Cinco de Mayo falls on a Monday, and Monday's not exactly a party day for many folks. So, in the interest of mirth and general merriment, we decided to start our Cinco de Mayo specials over the weekend. And if partying on the weekend's a good idea, it's even more fun to enjoy Friday night, so Friday got added too. And if there's a 12 days of Christmas, why can't we have a 5 days of Cinco de Mayo? And that's how it happened.

Cinco de Mayo (or "CdM" to its friends) features food and drink specials for the whole five days.

Nacho Cheesesteak
Served with grilled onions & peppers and sliced jalapeños. 7.99

“All-Day” Breakfast Burritos
Try our new Chorizo, Bacon, or Veggie breakfast burritos with egg, cheddar cheese, and potatoes. Served hot each day, while they last. 4.00

Nacho Cheese Fries
Our irresistible fries topped with gooey nacho cheese and sliced jalapeños. 4.49

Sauza Gold Margarita $3.99
Sauza Gold Shot $2.99
½ Liter of El Bitburger Mexicano (Bitburger with a lime wedge) $4.95
Mexican Beers (bottles) $3.00
Negro Modelo, Bohemia, Corona, & Corona Light
“El Rey de Cervezas” (Budweiser in bottles) $2.50

Back from Tokyo!

I'm back from Tokyo and sitting at the bar in Shultzy's -- traveling is fun, but it's good to be home. And I did try to do some "homework" over there, too.

The first exercise was palate broadening. We had an informal tasting of unusual tidbits this morning: strawberry-chocolate coated Cheetos (consensus: not good), Ritz Bits sandwiches with coffee-flavored filling (consensus: great coffee aroma would go well with Van Gogh Double Espresso Vodka shots), and melon-flavored white chocolate crunch (no consensus, but no one liked the pale green color).



Then there were the things I had to try there and couldn't bring home. First Kitchen is a major Japanese fast food chain with a broad menu and many limited time items. This trip, I ate a Curry Dog, and it was surprisingly good; the dog had a nice snap to it and the curry was surprisingly spicy. Maybe we'll have to explore that one in the R&D Lab.



I saw, but did not manage to eat at R-Burger which sells burgers on Chinese "Bao" buns. R-Burger is a small chain with two locations that sells burgers featuring marine collagen, insecticide-free Shiso leaf topping, and a burger sauce with 19 ingredients. I'd like to try one and see what it's like; the fillings seem tasty, but I'm not so sure about the buns -- it seems like they would be too filling and sticky. I'll have to try it next visit.



I also didn't get a chance to eat at Tokyo's Madison Park Cafe. Really! MPC is the restaurant's name, like a tribute to its namesake Seattle neighborhood. They even serve Seattle's Best Coffee there! They feature hotdogs with intriguing names like "Tokyo Taxi Dog", "A Dog That Swims", and "Hold The Dog". The one that sounds most appealing to American palates is the "Pig Dog" with bacon, lettuce, tomato, avocado & horseradish sauce. That'll have to wait for next trip, too!



I did some drinking, too. I found Hoegaarden on tap in Kabukicho, and had 0.25L for about US$8.00 (yikes!). But, given that a bottle of Bud at the same place was $7.00, Hoegaarden wasn't a bad deal at all. The bar also had Bass Ale, Guinness, and Asahi Super Dry on tap.



And finally, just when you thought outsourcing was the only threat to jobs these days, there's the robotic beer pourer. Japan has actually had these for a while; they're a standard fixture in most airport lounges. It's a machine that pours a perfect beer every time using a spigot that starts at the bottom of the glass and then recedes as the glass fills. You get a perfect beer with a perfect head every time.

Preview of Señor Shultzy's 5 Days of Cinco de Mayo

I just finished the poster, so you'll read it here on the blog even before folks in the restaurant see it...

¿What’s better than the Cinco de Mayo?

Señor Shultzy’s
¡5 Days of Cinco de Mayo!
May 1st to May 5th

Mexican Beer Specials
(Bohemia, Negro Modelo, Corona)

Sauza Gold Margaritas
(Con lima fresca/With fresh lime)

Our new Breakfast Burritos
(Spicy Chorizo, Bacon, or Veggie)

El Bitburger Mexicano`
(Con lima fresca/With fresh lime)

Nacho Cheese Fries
Nacho Cheesesteaks
(Amazingly, both are trans fat free. Really!)

¡Viva Los Bratwursteros!
(Long Live the Sausage Connoisseurs)

What is Chimichurri?

Spy photo of Chimichurri sauce from the Shultzy's R&D Lab.

The origin of this month's cheesesteak was fairly simple: free association.

Cheesesteak -> Steak -> Argentina -> Chimichurri

I've been to Argentina a couple of times, and Argentinians both love steak and cook great steaks. Argentina's favorite condiment is probably Chimichurri, a spicy-tangy pesto-like sauce that goes great on grilled beef. What's in the sauce? Fresh parsley and garlic, lemon, olive oil, and a little crushed red pepper.

So, it wasn't a great leap of imagination to think that it might make a dandy cheesesteak.

So, off to the Shultzy's R&D labs. We started off with a Chimichurri steak with no cheese; I loved it, but it's too hard to explain a cheesesteak without cheese to customers, so we started exploring cheese combinations. Provolone worked best, and we were on our way. The sandwich was tasty, but a few slices of sweet roma tomatoes perfectly complemented the other ingredients in taste and texture.

And, the Chimichurri Cheesesteak was born...


But we weren't quite finished. Emily Schulze liked the ChimiCheesesteak (as it is affectionately known here), but wanted to try the same preparation with a veggie burger. Eureka! The Chimichurri Veggie Burger was born. Emily tried adding some grilled onions and liked it, so some onion-lovers may want to try that option. Yes, I know Argentina's not known for vegetarians, but perhaps they'll forgive our successful experimentation.

It's Amoroso, not Omarosa

Shultzy's cheesesteaks wouldn't be the same without our Amoroso rolls. And it's Amoroso, not Omarosa, the villainess from Donald Trump's TV show.

These rolls come from the Amoroso Baking Co. in Philadelphia. Philly cheesesteak landmark, Geno's Steaks, serves their sandwiches on Amoroso rolls, and we do too. Many cheesesteak connoisseurs believe that the roll makes the sandwich, and Amoroso rolls are #1.

Next time you come into Shultzy's, try a cheesesteak, and enjoy a little taste of Philadelphia right here in Seattle.

Our New Happy Hour Menu

Weekdays, from 3-6, you can enjoy new food and drink specials at Shultzy's. Come on in, and try them out!

FOOD SPECIALS:
SHULTZY’S HOT WINGS $5.00
Six crispy wings tossed in our own spicy sauce, served with celery sticks and your choice of bleu cheese or ranch dressing.

THREE MINIBURGERS $5.00
Served on toasted rolls, with chopped romaine, a slice of roma tomato, a pickle slice, and Shultzy’s burger sauce.

CHILI DOG $5.00
A butterflied Kosher Beef Frank smothered in our own award-winning sausage chili.

CHILI CHEESE FRIES $5.00
Add sausage chili and grated cheddar cheese to a large plate of our already irresistible fries.

Happy Hour $5 Food Special prices require an accompanying purchase of a beverage priced at $3.00 or more.

DRINK SPECIALS
DRAFT BEERS
SELECT GERMAN BEERS (½ LITER) 3.50
DOMESTIC MICROBREWS (PINT) 3.00

WINE
LA VIELLE FERME RHONE RED 3.00
LA VIELLE FERME RHONE WHITE 3.00

COCKTAILS
ALL WELL DRINKS 3.00
(BEEFEATER GIN, SKYY VODKA, SAUZA TEQUILA, BACARDI RUM…)

SHOTS
JÄGERMEISTER 3.00
VAN GOGH DOUBLE ESPRESSO VODKA 3.00
WASHINGTON APPLE 3.00